IT WILL WORK UNTIL IT DOESN’T

The title of today’s post comes as an answer I provided to a question that I ended up being pretty proud of.  It was the typical “here is my laundry list of sets, reps and exercises: is it good?” and my answer was “it will work until it doesn’t”…and that is true of everything.  Literally everything will work until it doesn’t: the only difference is simply that some things work LONGER than others.  To the point that some things stop working instantly: they never get off the runway, but they DID work up until the moment that they didn’t.  It just so happens that the time of their not working had a direct overlap with the time of them working.  Other methods can work damn near indefinitely; relying purely on the ability off the trainee to maintain compliance and health.  In turn, when analyzing the effectiveness of a strategy, it’s foolish to ask “will this work”, instead one must ask “what will be the thing that makes this STOP working?”

I am sure the first 39 English soldiers wondered that very thing about this one viking at Stamford bridge

Here’s a classic example: Soviet programming.  Man, growing up I was told that Soviet programming was quite the bee’s pajamas when it came to being effective.  The Soviets were CRUSHING the world of sports in their prime, completely untouchable, and, in turn, any young trainee champing at the bit to get bigger, stronger and better, owed it to themselves to undertake some Soviet programming.  What did this programming entire? VERY rigid structures, precise percentages, and an unnatural ability to recovery through training, facilitated by state sponsored lifestyles and other unnatural means.  Will Soviet programming work?  It sure will: right up until the point that it doesn’t.  For the average trainee, that may mean it’ll work until the time that their kid’s birthday happens to fall on squat day, or they buy a new puppy and can’t get a solid 8 hours of sleep for a few weeks, or they experience even the most minor of injury.  No one disputes that the programming works: what gets disputed is what it takes to make it STOP working.

Will low carb work?  High carb?  Paleo?  Gallon of Milk a Day?  Yes, they will ALL work: right up until the moment that they don’t.  And herein things go twofold, because a diet “working” also depends on the goals of the trainee.  Gallon of milk a day works if one’s goal is to put on mass: it works less if one’s goal is to put on purely lean mass, and it rarely works if one’s goal is to lose weight.  So sometimes the reason a diet “stops working” has nothing to do with the diet but, instead, the goals change.  What was once a working diet no longer works, with zero changes to the diet at all.  And all that aside, the truth is, almost every eating strategy works, primarily BECAUSE it is an eating strategy.  Most folks HAVE no strategy when they eat: they just put whatever food sounds the yummiest into their face until they physically cannot eat more of it, and then they lament how they can’t lose weight.  If you are paying even the slightest attention to what you are eating: you’re ahead.

Although I'd rather you pay attention to the goddamn road

I used a bodybuilding program (DoggCrapp) before my first powerlifting meet.  Did it work?  Hell yeah it did: set my all time highest bench in a meet with that program.  It worked all the way up until when I wanted to drop a weight class, and then it didn’t work and I had to do something else that worked until it didn’t.  And this marks my entire training history.  It’s always a matter of things working until they don’t, and when they don’t work anymore I can either stubbornly keep doing it while it doesn’t work, change it until it DOES work, or do something else entirely that will work until it doesn’t.  Of those 3, the first one is the stupidest, while the other 2 are far less stupid choices.  So if you’re a fan of not being stupid (and based off my time on the internet, MANY people pride themselves on how not stupid they are), take that under consideration.

“How do I know if it’s working?”  Ok, I take back my previous comments about you not being stupid now, because you’re stupid if you asked that question.  How do you know if a program or diet is working?  By the RESULTS.  No: not the results IN the training.  It’s not about how you feel DURING the workout: are you achieving your goals OUTSIDE of training?  Are you getting bigger/stronger/leaner/faster/better/etc etc?  If yes: its working!  If not: it has stopped working.  We’ve run our course, and it worked until it stopped.  Now is the time to move on.

 
I'm all about moving on and not sticking with things well past the point where they no longer work

But there’s so much JOY to be had in “it will work until it doesn’t”, because this means one no longer needs to strain themselves looking for the holy grail of a working program/diet: they ALL work.  Some simply work better or longer than others.  But what’s great about a short working approach is that you can quickly abandon it and move on to a different approach until you finally find one that works for a long time, and then you can just ride that out until it doesn’t work.  However, this is going to require the one thing that many of the people asking “will this work” hate to employ: critical thinking.  You can’t just pick a program and follow it mindlessly, to say nothing of just putting numbers in an app or excel sheet and shut off your brain.  Nope: you’re going to have to actually evaluate if you are PROGRESSING in your approach.  And if you are, that’s awesome.  If you’re not: it sounds like it stopped working.  Cool: now go do something else that works until it doesn’t.

UNPOPULAR OPINIONS

Hey folks, its grumpy old man time.  Someone on reddit posted a thread asking for unpopular training opinions, and I unleashed the majority of what is below.  Tacked on a few more at the end.  Figured it was enough for a quick and dirty blogpost this week.  If none of these upset you, then I did a bad job.  See if you can come up with some of your own.

EDIT: And I have NO idea what happened to the formatting this week.

---

·         Absent the ability to see through your skin and observe the visceral fat between your organs, offering a meaningful bodyfat percentage number from a photo is impossible.

·         Form isn't important.

·         Injuries aren't a big deal, and avoiding injury limits people significantly in reaching their goals.

·         Counting calories and macros isn't necessary.

·         Getting big and strong is simple. It's difficult. Those are two different things.

Boxing is simple too: just punch the other guy in the face.  Duh!

·         No one should start lifting weights without at least 6 months of playing a sport under their belt. After playing a sport, I'd have that trainee do some bodyweight, dumbbell and machine training while pulling a sled and practicing technique on the barbell lifts before they get started on them.

·         You can get very big and strong training a muscle group directly only once a week.

·         Genetics don't matter nearly as much as people say they do.

·         It's ok to be hungry.

·         You don't have to like training. In fact, you can hate it. In fact, if you don't, you're probably not training hard enough.

That about sums it up

·         Your conditioning sucks. I am speaking directly to you at this time. No, stop thinking I'm talking to someone else. I mean you, right now.

·         Dietary compliance is easy. You just have to want the results of it. As soon as you decide that you do, you WILL comply with the diet. The only time you won't comply with a diet is if you decide the results aren't worth it. The exact same thing is true about waking up early to train.

·         It's much better to train through an injury than to rest it. You don't have to be stupid about it, but moving the injured part and getting blood to it is a million times better than just hanging it up and letting it atrophy.

·         Pre-workout is a gimmick.

·         If you're worried about creatine causing hairloss, you shouldn't take it. Or train.

·         No one needs to do the big 3 lifts to get big and strong. They're fine choices, but not required.

In case you had a rebuttal

·         There's no such thing as "the big 4/5/6/8/etc". It's PURELY "the big 3". It comes from powerlifting.

·         You can't be a non-competitive powerlifter. A powerlifter, by definition, is someone that powerlifts. Powerlifting is the activity of setting a total on your 1 rep max on 3 lifts in a single day. I'd be ok with a mock meet, but if all you do is train to get stronger in the big 3 but never try to set a total, you aren't a powerlifter: just like, if you only shoot free throws, you aren't a basketball player.

·         People obsessed with who is/is not on steroids were never going to get big and strong in the first place.

·         The gallon of milk a day works. But you gotta train to earn it.

·         Anecdotes are way more valuable than science.

·         Stretching doesn’t prevent injury.

Sometimes it can even cause it

·         Foam rolling is never required.

·         There’s no such thing as “strongman training”, primarily because there is no preset strongman competition.  Until you have a comp coming up, you can’t train strongman: you’re just getting stronger.

·         Cardio doesn’t kill gains, and the people that think it does are all fat.

·         If you are unwilling to spend money on at least one book about training, you will not succeed at getting bigger and stronger.

·         Youtube lifting drama is fake: the idiots that believe it are real.

·         Lifting 6 days a week is less effective than lifting 4 days a week.

·         If you can only parrot what other people have said and don’t have any original thoughts on a subject, you shouldn’t speak on it.  Let the original work speak for itself.

·         Most folks that say they “don’t care about looks” are really meaning they lack the discipline to eat well.

How awful he had to settle only for being the most winningest World's Strongest Man in history

·         Hip thrusts are a meme.

·         Facepulls are stupidly overrated.

·         Training for “aesthetics” is stupid.  And I don’t mean it’s a stupid goal: it’s a stupid thing to say.  You’re getting bigger.  There’s nothing wrong with saying that.

DOING VS BEING

My most recent post of “If It Feels Good, Stop” inspired a lot of conversation and, in it, I found an interesting element of “strong” being discussed there: specifically the nature of being strong vs doing strong things.  Despite how often I explain it, many people still struggle to understand why I’ve lifted for so long if I hate it, and they go through all the normal (and incorrect) assumptions that I must be a masochist, that I’m exaggerating or flat out lying, that I just haven’t found the exercise that I like, or that I’m somehow super-duper disciplined.  The truth remains much simpler: I like BEING big and strong, and lifting weights is something I have to DO in order to BE strong.  But in turn, one must understand that these ARE two separate concepts: a concept of being and a concept of doing.  One must be able to make the clear and distinct separation between the two concepts in order to fully realize just WHAT, exactly, it is that is their goal in training.

That sums it up pretty nicely

This fundamentally requires one to accept the reality that one can exist independent of the actions they perform, and that their actions do not define “them”.  The notion of action defining a person is very western, and can trace its origins to the ancient Greeks, with impact being felt today.  Think about whenever someone asks you to tell them about yourself: you most likely start with what you do for a profession (or, absent a profession, where you are currently a student at).  You define “you” based off the things you do (and typically, off the things you do to earn money FIRST, followed by the things you do for leisure second, which is more western influence).  However, our more eastern inclined brethren may be tempted to instead answer with who their family is (I am so-and-so’s child, and they come from X).  And think really about the answer to those questions: one is very much about what one DOES, while the other, truly, is about what someone IS. 

That said, I now have need to address one of my previous posts to “Internet Powerlifters”, wherein I made the claim that, if one does not powerlift, one is not a powerlifter.  Does that contradict what we’re discussing today?  No, because “powerlifter” is NOT a state of being: it’s a classification of one who acts.  Being strong is HELPFUL for bring a powerlifter, but not at all necessary (because we have not specified “good/successful powerlifter” here: simply powerlifter).  Hence, in telling someone “you are not a powerlifter” because they do not powerlift, we are not denying that they are strong, we are not denying that they dedicate their training to improving their squat, bench and deadlift, we are not denying that they do lots of work in low rep ranges: we are simply saying that they have not done the action necessary for one to be a specific thing.

It's not about how much you lift or how you train: it's about actually getting on the platform

Which, in turn, brings us all the way around to BEING big and strong.  It is true that one must do the things that big and strong people DO in order to BE the thing that big and strong people are (in much the same way one must powerlift to be a powerlifter), but what is ALSO true is that one is BEING big and strong even when one is not DOING the things necessary to become big and strong.  One is not big and strong ONLY when one is exercising, but, in fact, they are that way during all hours.  Big especially so, as that remains persistent insomuch as one eats to support it, but strong one would argue even moreso OUTSIDE of training, as training tends to tax one’s available strength and reduce their ability to be as strong as possible in that exact moment in time.  One actually tends to be stronger OUTSIDE of the activities of becoming stronger vs when they are doing the very things that are required to become big and strong.  In understanding this, it becomes apparent that the act of becoming big and strong is distinctly separated from BEING big and strong, and the two can exist as independent concepts despite a codependent relationship.

And I love BEING big and strong, so much so that I’m willing to DO the things that make me big and strong even if I hate them.  Primarily because the trade-off is borderline ridiculous.  I only have to “suffer” for 60-90 minutes 4-5 times a week in order to spend the REST of that day loving what I am.  Think of how many people have that completely backwards.  Think of how many people absolutely resent what they ARE, so they turn to DO something to try to feel better for only an incredibly fleeting moment.  They indulge in yummy food, or alcohol and drugs, or self-gratification, or just ANYTHING to attempt to take their minds off of just how miserable they ARE.  They mistakenly believe that, by DOING, they can alleviate the pain of what they are BEING, but, in truth, what they are being IS so miserable BECAUSE they refuse to dedicate 60-90 minutes a few times a week toward some manner of self-improvement.  And yet again: that doesn’t have to be lifting.  For me it is, because BEING big and strong is what I love being, but it could just as easily be about being smarter, an accomplished chef, more spiritual, more assertive, etc etc.  That time spent doing that will be unenjoyable, no doubt, but it pays a ridiculous exponential interest, wherein, what little time is invested in suffering results in near constant and persistent joy: the joy of BEING.

See Steve gets it

To take this rant even further, one inevitably begs the question “but how can one BE strong without the demonstration of said strength, at which point one strains, experiences discomfort, and therefore does not experience joy?”  The fact of the matter is that strong IS a state of being that exists independent of the demonstration of it.  As someone that is strong, being strong is possessing an immense amount of physical confidence, sometimes to the point of tragedy.  There is RARELY an instance wherein I encounter something where brute force is the solution and I am unable to supply it, and many times instances where one does not even CONSIDER brute force as a solution to a problem yet I am able to “solve” it employing that manner.  I am never limited due to a lack of strength, and though I may experience discomfort in the employment of said strength, I experience joy in the knowing that I had the strength to employ.  I’ve moved my house multiple times over the year and never had to hire a moving company to assist me.  This included putting a reverse hyper on my back and walking it up the ramp of a moving truck, ducking under my garage door on the way up and essentially doing inclined lunges until I could get clearance.  It was one of the most physically miserable experiences of my life, but BEING strong enough that I could do it was absolutely satisfying.  I love being strong enough to know that the only thing that will ever stop me from carrying my kid is when THEY’RE no longer comfortable with it.  I love that when something says “team lift” on it, I know that it doesn’t apply to me. 

Being big and strong is, quite simply, awesome, and it’s awesome enough that it’s completely worth doing all the things necessary in order to be that way.      

IF IT FEELS GOOD, STOP

Jack LaLanne had a fantastic quote regarding nutrition: “if it tastes good: spit it out”.  All people looking for the latest and greatest fad diet, take note: you could do no better.  It’s a perfect sound bite, and the guidance will take of just about everything.  And will it be a fun, enjoyable, diverse, adaptable diet?  Hell no, but that wasn’t what Jack LaLanne was about: he was about strapping 70 boats to his body and towing them 1 mile by swimming…with his hands and feet shackled…on his 70^th birthday.  Jack was about accomplishing absurd feats over and over LONG into his twilight years: being a ridiculous, unrivaled physical specimen.  And, in a similar regard, may I offer you, to go along with this nutrition advice, the training advice of “if it feels good, stop doing it.”

If you look like this, you're not running hard enough

The origin of this thought actually comes from a conversation between me and my wife.  She still thinks it’s amusing how much I hate training, and when I brought up that I had a squat workout coming up, she chided me “Yeah, the squats that you hate.”  I affirmed it, but then she shared with me “You know, I LIKE squats…or, at least, I did, until you had me use the safety squat bar.”  To which I reminded her that, after swapping her to the SSB, she set some running PRs and completed her first Murph WOD.  I chose the implement SPECIFICALLY because it sucks to squat with it and it makes you stronger all over when you do it, and suddenly the squat went from an enjoyable movement to one that sucks: and with it, its effectiveness increased.

Which is why I struggle when I hear of people that talk about how much they enjoy training, as, to me, it’s a sign of ineffective training.  In total “no true Scotsman” form, enjoyable training can’t be effective, because effective training ISN’T enjoyable.  If one is enjoying their training, they are not doing what training is meant to do: specifically, make one big and strong.  Primarily because the body grows bigger and stronger in response to trauma.  And yeah, science is telling us it’s not about microtears anymore (so I hear), but the fact remains that body grows bigger and stronger in response to a DEMAND placed upon it to grow bigger and stronger, and the only reason such a demand can be placed upon the body is for the body to experience discomfort and trauma.  And, quite frankly, if you ENJOY discomfort and trauma, you are a literal masochist.  (And, as an aside, people will refer to themselves as sadists on this topic, but that only makes sense if you consider your body a separate entity form yourself…in which case, maybe you’re ahead of the game).

Yes: EMBRACE the suck.  Keep it platonic please.

And again, I fully understand that not everyone’s goals are the same when it comes to training.  But, in truth, when it comes to lifting of weights, I genuinely can’t understand the “enjoyment” factor that goes into it.  Lifting weights is what OTHER sports do to get BETTER at their sports: it’s the boring training one does so that they can get better at the fun GAME of their sport.  Hell, even in lifting sports, the GAME of the sport is vastly different from the training of the sport.  And so maybe you can have some fun during a pseudo-events day you slide into your training, but that’s not going to be a staple of your training: at least, not if your goal is to actually GROW to be bigger and stronger.

People will inevitably get stupid about what I’ve written here and think it is, yet again, some sort of call to trainees to go out and get intentionally injured.  Allow me the principle of charity here.  You can experience discomfort WITHOUT it being the result of impending injury and, in truth, as an individual that has suffered a few catastrophic injuries, allow me to elucidate that there was NEVER any preceding pain.  What I am talking about is training that is simply unenjoyable due to any variety of manners that exist that can rob you of joy.  I have done both Super Squats and Deep Water.  Super Squats has ONE set of squats: Deep Water has 10.  BOTH are awful, miserable experiences.  Both rob you of fun.  In between sets of Deep Water, I would read old Seanbaby articles just so I could REMEMBER what joy and humor were like before the next set started.  Yet they’re both completely DIFFERENT means of achieving discomfort and misery.  One is the feeling of a barbell crushing you for 3 to 4 minutes while you try to take the deepest breaths of your life, the other is the psychological torture of having to get back under a bar after 6 sets of 10 and knowing that, even AFTER you finish this set, you STILL have 3 more sets to go, and that you will be NOT recovered when the rest times end.  And these programs are both ridiculously effective.  Meanwhile, I see trainees on all sorts of fun, enjoyable, varied, exciting programs…making no growth.

Just as an example

Lifting weights is such a poor manner of fun available: why try to turn it into something it’s not?  It’s a square peg in a round hole.  The point of the activity is self-improvement: not entertainment.  In much the same way that attempts at “edu-tainment’ tend to result in both poor education AND lame fun compared to simply separating studying and leisure, “enjoyable training” gives the trainee lackluster enjoyment AND subpar results.  Instead of investing your energy into trying to find ways to sneak as much fun as possible into your training, why not invest that energy to INSTEAD figure out how to make the training as awful as possible so that you get as much benefit as possible from it, and then you can be done reaching your goals sooner and have MORE time for fun?

With this guiding principle as your astrolabe, much like the simple brilliance of Lalanne, you suddenly have the easiest programming principle possible.  You no longer need concern yourself with percentages and peaking and pet lifts and fun: you simply seek out that which is miserable and attack it with aggression and brutality.  And again, a reminder, this isn’t about being as STUPID as possible, but about removing all fun from the equation.  It’s not about driving nails into your arm (no disrespect to Kroc) but about looking at your programming and going “Man, what is something I REALLY don’t want to do today?” and then KNOWING that this is exactly what you need to be doing.  And when your body goes “that wasn’t’ so bad”, you know it means you need to make it worse.  And when it decides that it’s going to quit, you KNOW that means you have to do at least 2 more sets.  You just absolutely beat it into the ground until it goes numb and can no longer REMEMBER what fun is, and then the training is done.

VERY fair chance these dudes forgot what fun is...

If it feels good: stop.  If it doesn’t, keep doing it until you can’t feel.